Brady Tkachuk Trade Grades: Panthers Land Senators Star in Exchange for Haul of Draft Picks

The Senators traded Brady Tkachuk to the Panthers. | James Guillory-Imagn Images

The Tkachuk brothers do just about everything together. They’re teammates on the United States men’s national hockey team, they have a podcast called “Wingmen,” and now, they’re teaming up in the NHL.

According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the Panthers are acquiring Brady Tkachuk from the Senators in what would be a blockbuster trade that pairs the Tkachuk brothers together in Florida. Per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Florida will send its two first-round picks in the 2026 draft (No. 9 and No. 25) to Ottawa, as well as a ’29 first-round pick and a 2030 second-rounder.

Tkachuk had a no-trade clause as part of his contract which limited his potential destinations to just four teams. LeBrun reports that the Hurricanes and Golden Knights were also approached in regards to a potential trade, and the Wild were another potential destination, but ultimately the desire to team up with his brother Matthew outweighed the allure of the other landing spots.

Brady had 59 points in 60 games this past season. He missed time after suffering a hand injury, but still recorded nearly a point per game throughout the season, which was the fifth consecutive season he had at least 20 goals and 25 assists.

Let’s grade the trade:

Senators

It’s a tough day for Senators fans, who have supported Tkachuk throughout his tenure as the team’s captain. Last season, Brady led the Senators to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season. Prior to 2024-25, Ottawa had not been in the playoffs since the 2016-17 season. Both of the Tkachuk-led playoff runs were short lived, however. The Sens lost in six games in the opening round to the Maple Leafs in 24-25, and were swept by the eventual-champion Hurricanes in the first round this year.

The 26-year-old has two years remaining on his current contract. He’s slated to make $8.205 million in each of the final two seasons of that deal, but there was some indication that he may not be willing to re-sign with Ottawa beyond that contract. Rather than let him leave in free agency for no return in a couple of years, the Senators opted to facilitate the trade that enabled Brady and Matthew to join forces on the Panthers.

The Senators will receive a haul of valuable draft picks, including two first-rounders this year. In addition to their own first-round pick, Ottawa will now select at Nos. 9, 25 and 32 in the opening round this year. That will help the franchise replenish as the Sens look to quickly claw back into playoff contention after Tkachuk’s departure, while they’ve also locked down some draft capital for the future.

Still, it’s a rough turn of events for Senators fans who were hoping that Tkachuk would be around for the long haul. But if it had become clear that he wasn’t going to re-sign, they at least got a decent haul in exchange. Not prying Anton Lundell from the Panthers in this trade is a tough look for the Senators, though.

Grade: C+

Panthers

Brady and Matthew Tkachuk won a gold medal together, now they will team up on the Panthers | James Lang-Imagn Images

This is a big, big move for the Panthers. The team was riddled with injuries this past season, but they’ll be right back in the Stanley Cup hunt in 2026-27 with all of their starters in place. And, they’ve made their best player, Matthew Tkachuk, extremely happy by bringing his brother to town.

The Tkachuk brothers are extremely close, and they play well when sharing the ice together for the U.S. national team. There’s no reason that level of play wouldn’t translate to the NHL. They’re both physical and love to rile up their opponents, but they can rack up points in a hurry, too. Plus, Florida will have a much better chance than Ottawa would have to re-sign Brady beyond his current contract. With Matthew on the Panthers’ books through the 2029-30 season, it likely won’t take too much convincing to keep Brady on the roster in the long term.

Florida moved fast to get this done. One of their first-round picks (No. 25) was only acquired earlier on Sunday in a trade with the Kraken that saw Mackie Samoskevich dealt to Seattle in exchange for a first and second-round pick. Swinging that pick from the Kraken to the Senators is some solid business, especially considering the caliber of player it enabled them to acquire in Brady.

It’s hard to argue with the Panthers’ decision-making here. A team that’s already built to make a run for the Cup just got even stronger, and they added a strong, physical player who shouldn’t have much issue developing chemistry with his new teammates, and already has a ton of chemistry with their star forward.

Grade: A

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